Clothesline reel



July l5, 1941. D. H. coFFMAN CLOTHESLINE REEL Filed. June 5. 1940 INVENTOR D. J(. Coffman mt' Mib,

ATTORNEYS Patented July is, 1941 UNITED ASTATES PATENT FFl-CE 2,249,114 cLo'rnasnINa naar.

Dalias n. commi, Fresno, cani.

Application June 5, 1940, Serial No. 338,951 V non-rotatable bolt 3 as at I0, while the outer end 1 Claim.

This invention relates in general to a household appliance and in particular the invention is directed to an improved' clothesline reel.

The principal object of the invention is to provide an improved clothesline reel which includes a supporting housing and a spring actuated drum in the housing, and upon which drum the clothesline is adapted to be wound when not in use; the line thus normally being out oi' the way and not unsightly, as well as being out of the weather, while at the same time being convenient and accessible for use. g

Another object of the invention is to provide a clothesline reel including a spring actuated drum for the clothesline, means associated with the drum to positively lock the same against rotation when the clothesline has been run out and is in use, and other means to prevent too fast a return of the line to the spring actuated drum when the line is being fed back to said drum after use. 1

A further object o! the invention is to produce a simple and inexpensive device and yet one which will be exceedingly effective for the purpose for -which it is designed.

Radially opposite the housing extension I3, housof said spring is ilxed on the portion 8 of the rotatable drum, as indicated as II.

A flexible clothesline I2 is normally wound about the drum in the groove 1; one end of said I clothesline being xed to the drum, while fthe other end portion extends from the drum through a radially projecting housing extension I3to a point exteriorly thereof. A connectingring Il. is secured on said other or outer end of the clothesline. Withinthe housing extension I3 the clothesline passes between and is rrictionally engaged by a pair of rollers I5. The upper one of said rollers I8 is mounted for vertical adjustment relative to the lower roller by suitable means such as extended rollerpins or shafts IB which are engaged by vertically adjustable screws Il.

- .ing I is provided with a supporting eyey I8 adapted These objects I accomplish by means of such Figure 3 is a fragmentary bottom plan view of the housing.

Figure 4 is a cross section on line of Fig. l. Referring now more particularly to the characters of reference on the drawing, the device comprises a cylindrical housing I formed with end plates 2, one of which is removable. A nonrotatable bolt 3 extends axially through the cylindrical housing I between the end plates; such bolt being secured in non-rotatable relation in any suitable manner as by seating the non-circular head 4 of the bolt in a correspondingly formed socket E in one of said end plates.

Withinv the housing I the bolt l3 supports a rotatable drum 8 'formed' with a relatively deep peripheral channel or groove l; said-drum being hollowradially'inwardly of the bottom of said gIOOVe. is disposed in said hollow portion of the drum t; the inner end of said spring being xed on the A relatively heavy duty spiral spring t to engage over a hook I9 secured to a building, a post, or the like.

At the bottom the housing I is formed with another radially projecting housing extension 20 in which an L-shaped dog 2| is pivoted for movement to and from the peripheryof the drum 0. The dog 2l is of substantially the same width as drum and the end plates of said drum at their periphery are formed with circumferentially spaced outwardly opening notches N into which the dog 2i is adapted to engage. The dog 2i is urged in a direction toward engagement with said notches by means of a spring 22 associated with the dog and its pivot pin 23. Except when the clothesline is in use, the dog 2l is held free oi notches N by means of a light-weight link chain C connected to the dog some distance'from its pivot and depending through a key-hole slot 2t in the bottom of housing extension 20; the chain being pulled downwardly and shifted laterally into the narrow portion of the slot-where by to lock 'the chain and dog in a position with the dog clear of notches N.

Operation In use, the assembly is suspended by eye it from a hook I9 as previously indicated. When the clothesline is to be used, ring I0 is grasped and the line run out to the desired length whereupon said ring is engaged with another suitable hook (not shown) at a point remote from the clothesline reel. Thereafter, chain C is released from the narrow portion of the key-hole slot 245 whereupon said chain moves upward through the enlarged portion oi the slot. The dog 2| then shifts into engagement with the periphery position in the manner previously explained.

Ring Il is released from its supporting hook and the clothesline I2 permitted to run back into the housing and onto drum 8 under the influence of spiral spring 9. Thev friction unit, including roll` ers l i5, is adjusted to exert suchl compression or friction on clothesline I2 to assure that it runs back onto drum 6 slowly and without a snapas would be undesirable.

From the foregoing description it will be readily seen that Ihave produced such a device as substantially fulfills the objects of the invention as set forth herein.

While this specification sets forth in detail the present and preferred construction of the device, still in practice such deviations from such detail may be resorted to as do notv form a del Letters Patent is:

A.In a clothesline' reel assembly.- a housing, a spring actuated clothesline drum rotatably 4 mountedlin the housing, a dog pivoted in the housing 'below the drum for swinging movement to and from the latter, the drum having a plurality of circumferentially spaced notches into any one of which the dog is adapted to enga-ge and lock the drum against rotation, a spring urging the dog toward said notches, and a dog release, link chain connected to and depending from the dog; the housing having a bayonet slot formed therein below the dog, the chain being passable only through the enlarged portion of the slot and normally freely depending therethrough, but engageable in holding relation in the smaller portion of the slot. C

DALLAS H. COEFMAN. 

